kis ko qaatil maiN kahuuN kis ko masiihaa samajhuuN
sab yahaaN dost hii baiThe haiN kise kyaa samajhuuN

vo bhii kyaa din the ke har vah’m yaqiiN hotaa thaa
ab haqiiqat nazar aaye to use kyaa samajhuuN

dil jo TuuTaa to ka’ii haath du’aa ko uThThe
aise maahaul meN ab kis ko paraayaa samajhuuN

zulm ye hai ke hai yaktaa terii begaanaaravii
lutf ye hai ke maiN ab tak tujhe apnaa samajhuuN

Pakistan

O beloved country of mine

Where is the peace you promised?

I sliced an empire in half for you

I left my friends and marched off for you

I lost one, I lost it all for you

Do you even care?

O beloved country of mine

Where is the unity you promised?

I fought in four wars for you

I slept with an empty stomach for you

I broke my back in the fields for you?

Are you even listening?

O beloved country of mine

Where are the opportunities you promised?

I stayed when generals ruled, for you

I stayed when famine fell, for you

I stayed when the country split in two, for you

Was it all a mistake?

O beloved country of mine

Today I see you in flames

Today I see your streets filled, not with flowers but with rage

Today I see death and misery and hatred everywhere

Is there any hope left?

O beloved country of mine

I will not let you perish

My heart is heavy but you are all I cherish

I still love your every corner, every street

I still love your rivers, your peaks

I still love your people, and every inch of your land beneath my feet

Promise that you’ll live on for me

Home..

The beauty of suggestion lies in the hints it alludes to as the mind wrestles with it’s wistful mistress – creativity.

Pehn-nay ki tameez honi chaheay; it’s not what you wear it’s how you wear it. And yet what is ‘it’?

In pardes I have worn skinny jeans, pleated khakis, baggy harem pants, cut offs and throwaways, scoop ins and flap outs, dresses of lace, of sheer soft grace but I have never felt as womanly, as elegant, as complete within my form as I have when wearing our much-maligned shalwar kameez. Yes, I too have complained about how only a man could’ve come up with such a prison for a woman, guzz upon guzz of cloth cut, folded, tweaked and moulded by the tiresome kapray, lace and rung waalay, and finally the formidable “master sahib”.

But I am tired of wearing “practical” clothes which were designed primarily for men, altered to placate women by flashing flesh. The elegance of a subtly draped dupatta, the dance of a breezily flowing kameez and the proceeds of a flouncy shalwar sing the song of ada; for the gulaab is far more amorous than the rose.

Somalia - Never mind

black faces
white tongues
the smell of sea water
taunts with sarcasm
drink me

oh somalia
im sorry i couldnt be there for you
but while you were trying to to get your daughter
to drink her urine
a singer died
while your children
were falling from the tree of life
scattered bushels of rotten fruit
some whiter children were shot

oh somalia
only if your beautiful wasnt so black
only if you were
gaza or
libya or
bahrain or
egypt or
norway or
england or
japan or
america
or the moon
i would mention you in a poem

only if you had
oil or
poppy or
timber or
rubber or
white people
i would mention you in my prayers

oh somalia
only if your beautiful wasnt so black
the world has grown accustom to watching you die
since i was a child
somalia - synonymous with suffering
african meant adversity
an african struggling was like
a fish swimming
a dog barking
somalia meant starvation

nevermind the magic in your poetry
or
the glowing saints rising from your lands like a thousand moons

nevermind the beauty of your beaches
or
the utter perfection in the hips of your women

oh somalia
only if you didnt wear the resemblance of eve
like an ornate funeral shroud
we wouldnt see you as our sin
and avert our gazes
in shame
turn our faces
to blame
only if your lack of the worldy
didnt remind us
of our lack of the other-worldly
perhaps then we would mention you

oh somalia
only if your beautiful wasnt so black

credits

The greatest irony of life is loving the right person at the wrong time, having the wrong person when the time is right and finding out you love someone after that person walks out from your life and sometimes you think you’re already over a person but when you see them smile at you, you’ll suddenly realize that you’re just pretending to be over them just to ease the pain of knowing that they will never be yours again. For some, they think that letting go is one way of expressing how much you love the person. Most relationships tend to fail not because the absence of love; love is always present. It’s just the one was being loved too much and the other was being loved too little as we all know that the heart is the center of the body but it beats on the left. Maybe that’s the reason why the heart is not always right. Most often we fall in love with the person we think we love only to discover that for them, we are just for past times, while the one who truly loves us remains either a friend or a stranger. Here’s a piece of advice: let go when you’re hurting too much, give up when love isn’t enough and move on when things are not like before. There is someone out there who will love you even more, surely then, you will know true love.

There will come a time- you'll see

Every day I wake up with this joy inside of me. I feel today I will make a difference. I can feel the love in the air. Everything is so beautiful. The feeling is just indescribable; I see this light of hope; I can see the light. The light which will end all the misery, of not just my life but everyone's life. I know there will be a day, very soon, where there will be no more tears, no more heart breaks. When loving someone will not be as hurtful as it is today. I know there will be a day, when each and every child in this world will get their right to education. I know that the day is near, just around the corner. I can feel that the time will come, when no one will die for a war, especially not an innocent..

But as the day goes by and night prevails, I loose all the hope, I loose all the joy. I feel helpless once again. I feel despair. 

The night may break my spirit, but the sun always reminds me, There will come a time, when we'll have peace within our selves and peace around us, you'll see!

Sinking

I have this empty feeling. Its the feeling when your heart is sinking in to your stomach. Omg!! I cant do this all over again. Yuls, I need to talk to you about soooooo much!!! And I miss you! Lets set up a date soon? Miss you! xxx